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Thursday, July 7, 2011

Faking 19 by Alyson Noel

On the surface, seventeen-year-old Alex has it made. She’s beautiful and smart, plus she’s best friends with M, the absolute most popular girl in school. Feeling bored with their fancy Orange County suburban town, Alex and M decide to check out L.A.’s glitzy nightlife scene.Pretending to be nineteen, Alex and M meet Trevor and Connor, two rich older guys. At first Alex can’t believe her luck—she gets to hang out at hip Hollywood house parties and downtown L.A. clubs. These weekend trips into the city become the perfect distraction for Alex, who is secretly struggling with her failing senior-year grades, her absentee father, and her clueless mom.But after the initial fun wears off for Alex, she is forced to re-evaluate her friendship with M, who is hiding some secrets beneath her perfect Burberry-clad exterior…

Faking 19 is Alyson Noel's debut novel and I have been dying to read this one for so long. Once it arrived in my mailbox, I read it immediatlely. This one is very different from her IMMORTALS series. It is a chick lit book, but lately, I have been craving chick lit novels. And this one satisfied.

Alex used to be a perfect, smart student, but lately her grades have been dropping and even though she knows a scholorship is out of the question, she's now worried that she will no longer graduate with her class. To top things off, she and her mom are trying to make ends meet since her dad left and won't even help pay for anything. Then she meets Connor and even though things are going well at first, they go back downhill when Alex is hit by reality. She decides to get herself back on track and I enjoyed seeing Alex change.

Her English teacher impressed me the most. Even though Alex didn't do her Anna Katerina paper, she wrote a short story about something and he liked the fact that she tried. This also happened in real life to Alyson Noel herself and Alex's English teacher sounds just like my freshman year English teacher. I didn't do what Alex did by not doing my homework, but she inspired me to love reading and writing and from all the teachers I have had during my school years, she has been my favorite and I will never forget her and I thank her for giving me the love of reading and writing.

I really liked how St. Martin's Press changed the cover of Faking 19. In my opinion, I like this one much more!

Overall, I enjoyed Faking 19 and it's a great summer read to take to the beach or when you're traveling.